By Judith B. Esterquest & Barbara Estrin, Jan 28, 2019
A David and Goliath Story Part II: The Big Guns Come Out Swinging — With Lies — Our Strategy: Dispel the Myths With Facts
New Democratic majorities in Albany and the US Congress campaigned on “Medicare-for-All,” causing health insurance and pharmaceutical companies to begin bankrolling massive propaganda campaigns — and increasing their record-setting expenditures on lobbyists, political donations, and dark money. “Health sector” titans seek to push Single Payer off the playing field by labeling it “extreme,” despite 70% of Americans supporting it.
Last week The Washington Post reported that insurance industry leaders plan to “ramp up advertising and lobbying” to “convince Americans that a single-payer system would deeply hurt their access to vital health-care services.” Healthcare economists say this is false but journalists quote “both sides” (in “false equivalence”). So we’re seeing special-interest “alternative facts” muddy almost every discussion.
The money war is woefully asymmetrical: at both the state and federal levels. …
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